Samuel Kofi Woods

The recent achievements by workers at Bridgestone- Firestone in Liberia to form an independent workers union, effectively replacing a company controlled union is a triumph of people power over the all mighty business interest and a remarkable achievement that could have reverberating effects for workers all over the country.  This achievement by the Firestone workers could very well be the trail-blazing moment, that one event in history that sets off an unstoppable chain reaction leading to the liberation of a people, a group or a nation; the event that changes the course of the world from one path to the other.  

Like Perestroika and Glasnost were to the Soviet Union, like the spontaneous tearing down of the Berlin Wall was to the unification of Germany, like the brave actions by Lech Walesa and polish workers at the Shipyard in Gdansk set the stage for the democratization of Poland and broke the legs of communism worldwide, this courageous action by these least of workers could mark the beginning of the liberation of the Liberian workers from decades of abuse and enslavement.

This single act of courage by these plantation workers could, and I hope would be that event that shows to other workers that their liberation is also possible. From Guthrie to LAC, from LAMCO to Bong Mines, to Cavalla, to the Timber industry, to the domestic workers, the Liberian worker has for generations been the subject of outright abuse, heartless exploitation and brutal suppression. A combination of unscrupulous investors and business people, corrupt Liberian government officials, bad labor laws and unfair concession agreements that favor big business have connived for close to a century to not only milk the country of its natural endowments with little or nothing to show in return but has amounted to slavery for the Liberian workforce. Workers have been subjected of decades of neglect, abuse and misery in the hands of a criminal enterprise of corrupt, greedy government officials and unscrupulous investors and business people.

As Firestone workers liberate themselves or are helped through the process they will undoubtedly be sending a very powerful message to other workers throughout Liberia that they too do not have to endure the abuse and neglect under which they have been subjected for decades.  By the Firestone example other workers in other industries can see that they have a right to organize, to advocate and to bargain for better working conditions, better pay, and better health care and for safety on the job. They can realize that the time has come and that time is now.   

My passion for workers’ rights was born out of an experience on the Firestone plantation in Harbel, Margibi County. One fateful day in 1996 I paid a visit to Division 45 in Harbel, one of the many concession camps housing workers of the company. This was my first visit to a Firestone camp. As I walked through the camp I saw workers manually slicing away on rubber trees laden with chemicals and I saw others carrying extremely large buckets filled with latex on their shoulders. I noticed that these workers had no safety and protective gears such as goggles or gloves for the chemicals that they interacted with or hard hats for the risks that they faced working under trees that could shed branches at any time. 

As I walked towards the housing camp I came across makeshift hut after makeshift hut with no windows, with dirt floors, no running water and no electricity. There were no toilet facilities and I saw latrines streaming with cholera-filled, bacteria infested water with floating excrements and maggots around the homes and open market places.  

I saw separate, dilapidated schools for children of these low level workers.

Even more striking was the huge disparity that lay next door. Just a stone’s throw from the sub – human conditions of the workers were the conditions of luxury accorded expatriate workers and their families. They enjoyed 24 - hour day electricity and running water, their children attended separate and better equipped schools. Pristine golf courses lined their communities.

But these conditions are not just limited to Firestone and Firestone workers alone. I have gone to LAC, I have gone to many other work sites and concession camps, I have seen the conditions under which retail and domestic workers toil; I have seen the abuse.

That is why I am excited by the achievement by the Firestone workers and the courage and fortitude with which they stood up against great odds such as the risks of losing their jobs and their abilities to feed themselves and their families to bring about a much needed transformation. 

Lest we forget all these achievements would probably not have been possible, at least in the manner in which they have, without the enabling environment created by the Labor Ministry under the new Liberian administration. It was not the absence of worker agitation that delayed the Firestone achievement for 82 years. Workers of Firestone have long agitated for their rights and for better working and living conditions. It was instead bad, corrupt regimes after another that helped squash the movement by giving Firestone a carte blanc to suppress workers or by using trigger happy soldiers and police to put down worker actions. I was there in 1997 when ECOMOG and Liberian government troops violently squashed a worker protest against a 37% pay cut and other benefits.  The election of a new government in Liberia and the appointment of Samuel K. Woods, a long-time labor and human rights activist as Labor Minister certainly paved the way for the landmark achievements by the Firestone workers.

As the international labor movement honors Liberia’s labor leaders tomorrow June 25, 2008, in Washington, D.C. with labor’s most prestigious human rights award, the Meany-Kirkland Award, it is my hope that Liberians in the United States will turn out en masse to support the workers. Workers are the life-blood of our society, the fuel that turns the wheels of industry and support our economy. It is also my hope that workers throughout Liberia from the retail store to the shipping, timber, steel and ore industries will see the imperative to unionize and to advocate for their rights and for better working conditions.

It is the struggle by the labor movement that won major victories such as the 8- hour work week and overtime pay, minimum wage, laws against child labor, the right of workers to organize and to bargain for better wages, benefits and safe working conditions, pension, etc. Worker agitation also led to the democratization of many nations. And with a sustained and concerted struggle the Liberian labor movement can win major concessions for workers throughout the country. An active labor union can also influence the passage of laws that support the working man and woman.